Vol 92 Issue 11

Minister Activities Rev. Daniel Holstege, pastor at First PRC of Holland, MI, spent time in the Philippines assisting Rev. D. Kleyn with the work there in January. From there he also traveled to Singapore for a short week, filling the pulpit on January 31 while Rev. Andrew Lanning was gone to Kolkata, India. Rev. Cory Griess, pastor at Calvary PRC in Hull, IA, and Rev. Doug Kuiper, pastor at Edgerton, MN PRC, gave a presentation about their recent trip to India in Calvary PRC on January 31. All who were interested from the Siouxland area churches were invited to attend....

Memoirs of the Way Home: Ezra and Nehemiah as a Call to Conversion, Gerald M. Bilkes. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2014. Paperback, 187 pp. [Reviewed by Rev. Martyn McGeown.] This is a brief, accessible, and helpful commentary on two neglected books of the Old Testament. Ezra and Nehemiah are post-exilic writings, that is, they were written after and describe life after the Babylonian captivity. For many Christians that history is strange and unfamiliar. We treat it at the end of the Old Testament History catechism season, when students are looking forward to the summer break. It does not...

So soon the second semester of the 2015-16 year is well underway, and news from “the hill” (i.e., seminary) is in order. The Protestant Reformed Seminary began the school year with twelve seminarians and one man taking a pre-seminary course (Greek Grammar). Midway through the first semester one of the third-year students, Mr. Nathan Price, discontinued his studies in the seminary. This is always difficult for professors and students alike, because in a small seminary, the bonds of fellowship grow strong indeed. Nonetheless, we wish Nathan well as he seeks to determine God’s will and calling for this life. At...

Last year’s Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches instructed the Contact Committee to come to Synod 2016 with a detailed and grounded recommendation about revision of the Psalter. Synod did not express herself on whether the Psalter should be revised, but asked the Contact Committee to submit a proposal which could be considered at Synod 2016. The subject of Psalter revision arose about five years ago when the Free Reformed Churches (FRC) approached the PRC asking whether our churches would be interested in joining them, along with other denominations who use the Psalter, in updating the Psalter. At that time...

Dr. Looyenga teaches in the Science Department at Calvin College and is a member of Faith Protestant Reformed Church, Jenison, Michigan. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. Psalm 19:1-2, 9 Among the many passages of Scripture that speak to the topic of revelation, Psalm 19 is perhaps the most explicit in its demonstration of how we are to know God. Situated side-by-side in...

In the privacy of his own bedroom, the king of Syria, in II Kings 6, devised an attack on God’s people. Where could be a more secretive spot to plot? Finally, when his invasion was ready to carry out, how shocked he was to discover that his plans had been divinely delivered to the king of Israel. This happened not once or twice but time and again to the angry, frustrated Syrian king. Even today, in the privacy of our own homes some of our words are intercepted too. It grieves us to confess that we do not always love...

I think, therefore I am. Thus reasons man. But the Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are vain (I Cor. 3:20). God is not in all his thoughts (Ps. 10:4). Man’s thoughts are an abomination unto the Lord (Prov. 15:26). The thoughts of his heart are evil continually (Gen. 6:5). His thoughts are of iniquity, and evil against the righteous every day (Is. 59:6; Ps. 56:5). Man thinks his name will continue for ever (Ps. 49:11). He thinks he can escape the judgment of God (Rom. 2:3). But he knows not the thoughts of the Lord (Mic. 4:12)....

Previous article in this series: April 1, 2015, p. 299. A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the...

Previous article in this series: February 15, 2016, p. 221. If being “confessional” means holding the traditions, maintaining the old paths, and not removing the ancient landmarks, how can a Reformed church be “always reforming”? If being Reformed is embracing the confessions—both ancient and Reformational—what use is the motto “always reforming”? Can the church truly be always reforming? The confessions are the tried and tested expressions of our faith. Without changing the confessions, how can a Reformed church reform? Or does the charge stick, that the confessions are simply the “Paper Pope” of Protestantism—infallible and unchangeable? Is it, in fact,...

“Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and...